20th century Spanish
 
Federico was a nephew of Juan Echevarría (1875-1931), a major figure of the art scene in the Basque Country whose style of painting was to be highly influential in his work.
 
His interest in Goya (1746-1828) and El Greco (1541-1614) was combined with the influence of French avant-garde painting which the artist picked up during the time he spent in Paris. Later, after first travelling to Buenos Aires in 1948 he moved to Central America where he became acquainted with the culture of the Maya civilisation, which left a notable imprint on his painting.
 
As he recognised himself, his style was very hard to classify. It evolved constantly, and the input of colour and his research into new materials proved critical in his work. After the portraits of his early period, his practice went through an impressionist phase before eventually arriving at abstraction and then his sculpture-paintings from the late 1970s.